A three-dimensional (3D) micromechanical finite element (FE) model of machining of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites was developed in the paper. The FE modeling considers the three phases of a composite, in which the interphase between the fiber and matrix can realize interfacial debonding to represent the failure of composites and allow heat transfer. The machined surface observations and surface roughness measurements of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites at different fiber orientations were done firstly, and then, the model predictions of the machining responses, such as cutting force, temperature, and surface roughness, at different fiber orientations were compared with various experimental data for model validation. It is indicated that the three-phase micromechanical model is capable of precisely predicting machining responses and describing the failure modes of fiber shearing or bending related with fiber orientations in the chip formation process. To investigate the complex coupling influences of multiple machining parameters on the key responses of CFRP composites, the singlefactor analyses of each machining parameter were first carried out, and then, the multi-factorial analysis of multiple machining parameters was performed based on the orthogonal design of experiment and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to quantitatively compare the influences of these key machining parameters on the cutting force and surface roughness. It was found that the fiber orientation angle, depth of cut, and cutting speed prove to be the important factors affecting the cutting force and surface roughness and that the coupling effects of these machining parameters all are relatively negligible in the machining of CFRP composites.
The paper aims to investigate the correlation of microstructural characteristics and machinability of unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites by a modified analytical model. A representative volume element was selected to present the microstructure and analyze the force distribution, in which the interphase between the fiber and the matrix was considered significantly. And the microstructure can be obviously measured by using microscopic observation, especially the interphase was found to be around 0.3 μm in the used carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites. To study the representative volume element effect on the cutting behavior of unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites, the prediction of cutting force was done by using a modified force model. Compared with the experiments, the developed model can well predict the cutting forces and subsurface damage in the carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites cutting. It was found that surface integrity as well as subsurface damage has a coincident varying trend with the fiber orientations, as confirmed by the observations of the machined surface at different fiber orientations. The good surface integrity can be obtained at the low fiber orientation of 0° and the poor surface occurs at the large fiber orientation of 135°. Moreover, the effect of interphase and the fiber volume fraction in representative volume element were further investigated. The results show that the cutting forces increase with increasing the fiber volume fraction as well as the interphase volume fraction, and the interphase affects the cutting force in the transverse direction is significantly higher than that in longitudinal direction.
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